Unbroken
by Sussurous
Summary: Sephiroth is slowly going mad when he encounters the last Cetra. Is it too late for him or will Aeris prove to be his salvation? TWO UPDATES IN ONE DAY! READ ME!
1. Chapter 1

Unbroken

He knew who she was the moment he saw her.

She was a Cetra and believed to be the last of a mystical race that was known mostly through legend. Hojo longed to get his hands on her. President Shinra had made her capture a priority. The Turks had been chasing after her for years but she always eluded them.

And there she was, a tiny little thing, selling flowers on a dingy street corner. She wasn't even trying to hide. Her pink dress and white flowers made her a beacon, the cleanest brightest thing he'd seen in the Sector five section of the Midgar slums.

He wondered where she'd gotton the flowers. The Mako production of the area had long ago sucked the life from the dirt and of course there was no sunlight under the plate.

But she was a Cetra, part Cetra, he corrected himself, and had the ability to make things grow, even in Midgar.

Sephiroth was only driving through, taking a shortcut to Shinra headquarters after a morning of recreational monster hunting. He was sweaty and covered in gore and wanted nothing more than take a shower.

Normally, he would have only idled briefly at the red light before running it. He kept a tight schedule and nothing irritated him more than a delay that would set him behind. This would definitely set him behind. Sighing he double parked the truck and went to fetch her.

It was his duty to bring her in.

He towered over her and she had to crane her head back to look at him.

He expected fear and he put on his sternest expression to take advantage of it, but when her eyes met his, there was no fear. Instead there was a friendly welcoming look that took him by surprise.

"Cetra." He said, scowling at her fearlessness "You're coming with me."

"Where are we going?" She said in a voice that was pure silver.

"To Shinra."

When that failed to elicit a proper reaction, he clarified.

"Professor Hojo would like to meet you."

The professor had a bad reputation. Rumors abounded of people being taken by force and taken to Hojo's labs, never to be seen again. The Cetra would be aware of this and she had every reason be afraid, but she wasn't. Instead she laughed lightly.

"You will have to give the Profesor my regards but I simply can not meet with him today."

"I'm not giving you a choice." He said with menace.

"Here, take this." She said and handed him a pale flower.

"I don't want a flower." He said, irritated now, but found himself reaching for it. It was a lily, pale as moonlight with a bright yellow stamen, looking horribly out of place and delicate in his black leather blood and dirt encrusted hand. He didn't want it, and looked to her to tell her so but she was gone.

Sephiroth blinked in surprise, searching around but there was no sign of her.

And then he saw her, stepping into a dark alley between two brick tenement houses. She paused to look over her shoulder at him and winked. Then took a step forward and disappeared from view.

Sephiroth had inhuman reflexes and superhuman speed, yet he found himself just standing there with his mouth hanging open at her audacity. He didn't know how she had managed to slip away from him, but to dare stop in mid flight to wink at him?

That was unheard of. It was disrespectful. He would have to teach her a lesson, teach her some proper fear before he brought her to Hojo.

Moving so fast he became a blur, he took off after her.

He bolted down the alley and every trash can seemed to get in his way. Piles of refuse tripped him up and caused him to slip and loose his footing. She was just ahead of him, j turning the corner, her dress a pink flash that enraged him and he pushed himself faster.

Rounding a corner, he jumped over a huge pile of crates that impeded him, but for some reason not her. He landed on slippery refuse and skidded into another huge pile of crates that came crashing down upon him. Sephiroth hit the ground, slamming his head hard enough on the pavement to briefly black out.

He lay on his back staring up at the underside of the plate. He blinked and found himself looking into eyes that reminded him of the green fields of Wataii.

"Are you all right?" She said.

"Cetra?"

"My name is Aeris."

"I don't care." He growled. "You are under arrest."

"You're so cute." She giggled and kissed him lightly on the forehead.

He should have grabbed then but her unexpected action so surprised and confused him that she slipped away before he could think to move.

Sephiroth jumped to his feet and gave chase only to find himself back on the street where he'd started. Her wagon of flowers were gone and there was no hint that the flower girl had ever been there.

"Dammit!"


	2. Chapter 2

Zack Fair paused in his casual flirting with a cute assistant to watch Sephiroth storm down the hallway to his office, a thundercloud over his head. He looked the vision of a warror walking off the battlefield, covered in dried blood and other nameless goo.

Secretaries scattered at his approach.

As he drew near Zack's Mako sensitised nose caught a whiff of what could only be the smell of garbage steaming under a hot sun.

"Uggh, what the hell happened to you? He gagged.

"Zack. In my office. Now."

Zack smiled and shrugged at the cute assistant before following him. He was used to Sephiroth's near constant grumpy attitude. He used it to judge Sephiroth's moods on a scale from mildly grumpy which on anyone else would be ecstatically happy to get the hell out of the room now! grumpy, which meant that blood would very likely soon flow.

Zack followed his general, shutting the door behind him and making a bee line for the window, which he opened. Leaning back against the sill he watched Sephiroth flip through a file cabinet and pull out a file, flipping through it as he paced in front of his desk.

Zack judged his mood to be get out of the room Now! grumpy and hoped he hadn't done anything to cause it. Sure he was the closest thing to a friend Sephiroth had, so he wasn't exactly afraid for his life but Sephiroth was hardly ever diplomatic and his bad moods could quickly move to violence.

"All right what happened?"

"I found the Cetra."

That caught Zack's attention fast. He only knew of one Cetra, he also knew that on the whole planet there was only the one, his best girl Aeris."

"You did." He said carefully. No one knew that he had dated one of Shinra's most wanted. Or that she was a close friend that he talked to frequently. He also knew that it was in everyones best interest to keep it a secret.

"Yes." Sephiroth said, "She was right there. I had her."

"...and?"

"She got away." He grumbled.

Zack looked at Sephiroth, surprised. Yeah he knew Aeris could take care of herself, and had been leading the Turks in a merry chase for years now but this was Sephiroth. No one escaped him.

"How?"

"She just did." Sephiroth shot back, his expression clearly stating that _that_ subject was closed to discussion.

"...Okay."

"I need you to reconnaissance with the Turks, find out everything they know."

"Speaking of which. Isn't this one of their cases. I mean, we're SOLDIER, this isn't our territory."

"That girl is wanted by Shinra. The Turks are hopelessly inept and so if falls to me to bring her in."

"Why do you care so much?" Zack asked with a sinking feeling. He felt like he was walking on eggshells. Whatever Aeris had done, she had made it personal. And Sephiroth was a bad person to have as an enemy.

Sephiroth stopped in his pacing, eyed Zack with that intense expression he had, the one that made him look both crazy and volatile. Zack gulped at that look.

"She mocked me. I can't let her get away with that."

"What did she do?"

Sephiroth shook his head at him. Just follow my orders Zack and report back to me asap."

"All right, I'm on it." He said, heading for the door.

"Good." Sephiroth answered absently, flipping through Aeris's file

"Seph?" Zack said pausing at the door.

"What?"

"You might want to consider taking a shower, you stink and you got gum stuck in your hair."

Sephiroth took a moment from his glaring to finger through his hair until he found the offensive wad and growled.

"Oh, when I get my hands on her, she's going to be begging me to let Hojo have her."

"Oh yeah, speaking of which, Hojo wants to see you in the lab, like yesterday."

Sephiroth rolled his eyes at that.

"He can wait."

"OK but you might want to give him a call back just in case. You know how he is.

"I know better than you Zack believe me, he can wait."


	3. Chapter 3

Sephiroth made his way to the elevator that would bring him up to his apartment and a much needed shower. He was so lost in thought that he didn't notice the way the hallway cleared before him. Everyone he came upon either suddenly became very busy or had someplace else very important to be.

Even if he had noticed, he wouldn't of cared. He liked it that they were afraid of him and left him alone.

His thoughts kept going back to the girl and the fact that she had gotten away from him. She had been right there, so close to him that he had felt her body heat.

She hadn't even been afraid of him and that was unusual. Civilians, women especially, usually shied the hell away from him. Shinra had done a marvelous job advertising him as their most dangerous weapon, so that he wasn't seen as completely human. He knew that he sure as hell didn't look human.

Finding himself alone in the hall he reached into his pocket and pulled out the flower she'd given him. Its thick waxy petals were crushed and it released a strong perfumy scent. A woman's scent. It smelled like her...

He remembered that she had kissed him and he wanted to know why.

Sephiroth hadn't reached the elevator when he saw Hojo turn the corner and come barreling down the hallway toward him. Immediately he started thinking up evasive maneuvers to get himself away from the man but it was too late. He'd been spotted.

"Sephiroth! I would like a word with you."

Sephiroth sighed, and wondered if the day could possibly get any worse.

"What do you want Hojo?" He asked, but the doctor seemed distracted by his appearance.

"Do you have gum in your hair?"

Sephiroth took a moment from his glaring to finger through his long hair until he found the offensive wad

"Yes." He said, picking at it, cringing inwardly at the nastiness of it. It had been in someone's mouth. They had chewed it, spit it out into the trash and now it was in his hair. How nasty.

"You missed another appointment this morning."

"Did I?" Sephiroth replied lazily, picking at the gum with a grimace.

"You don't recall? Tell me, have you had any other memory lapses." Hojo said pulling out a small notebook from his lab coat and making a quick note.

Sephiroth merely took a moment from his picking to glare at him.

"I don't have time for this nonsense." Sephiroth growled, moving forward toward the elevator.

"But you _will_ make time for me." Hojo said stepping in front of him and blocking his path.

"For another Mako treatment? I think I've had enough." Sephiroth said. He knew that the treatments were what made him strong but they also made him feel unsteady. They made reality seem small and unimportant and filled his imagination with images of fire and death.

Hojo stared at him as though he'd spoken in a foreign language. "Excuse me, but _I_ am your doctor and as your doctor_ I_ will decide when you've had enough."

Sephiroth gave him a stubborn, angry look.

"I can order a leave for medical observation." Hojo said, snapping his bony fingers. "Like that. I suggest you get yourself down there now. You have wasted enough of my time."

Sephiroth lost his casual attitude and adopted a more dominant position. The days of him being forced to submit to Hojo's experimentation were long gone. He said nothing, merely letting the menace flow from him as he towered over the scientist. It was a well practiced stance that commanded fear and respect in others but Hojo stood his ground, studying him with analytical interest and scientific pride.

"Unfortunately your request is incompatible with my schedule." Sephiroth said. " I do not have time for your tests right now. I suggest that you contact my secretary and reschedule."

"Are you testing me, boy. Because with one word to the President I can have you in lock down within the hour. How would you like to spend a week in your old room, hmmm?"

"On what grounds?"

"Mental instability."

"Prove it. I am the General of the Shinra Military, and as such I am never off duty. The President wont grant your request. He needs me too much."

"I made you what you are, General. I need to know of any problems and the President will agree to anything I say. If I fear that you are suffering from mako poisoning he will take my word over yours."

"I am no longer your lab rat, Hojo." He snapped, stepping up close to Hojo using his garbage stink to his advantage. He hid a smirk of satisfaction as the man took a step back and gagged at his stetch. "You can no longer tell me what to do."

"You are and always will be my number one 'lab rat'." Hojo answered coldly. "And If I have to, I _will_ get the president to order you to the labs for observation and testing."

"I don't have time for this. I have a job to do." Sephiroth growled, brushing past him.

"Sephiroth, I expect to see you in the lab!"

"Make an appointment!" He answered, as he walked away and headed for the stairs.


	4. Chapter 4

It had been a nearly a month since he'd seen the Cetra. A week in which he had gathered information, obsessed planned and stepped on Turk toes, until he was finally called into President Shinra's office and told to stay out of Turk jurisdiction. Sephiroth couldn't disobey a direct order from the President, so he pulled all his men out of the Sector 5 slums. A fucking shame, he thought, because with enough man power and his formidable interrogation skills, finding the girl would have been easy.

But nothing was stopping him from being in Sector 5 in his down time. Early mornings, nights and any other time in between that he could get away, found him skulking around, asking questions and generally terrifying the citizenry. All he'd gotten was another visit with the President and a warning to stay out of it.

But he couldn't let it go. He simply didn't understand how one little girl could be so hard to find and capture. It was driving him crazy.

Giving up was not an option. It wasn't even in his dictionary but he'd covered every inch of Midgar and no one had seen the flower girl. Sephiroth knew that had to be a lie, but what would cause the scum of Midgar to stand together behalf of one girl.

Day after day he made frequent trips to Sector 5, haunting all the places the Turks had listed her being spotted. He came at different times, sometimes early in the morning, sometimes midday or afternoon and sometimes at dusk or after dark.

Sephiroth never failed at anything he set his mind to and for every day that passed he became more determined. He _would_ find her.

There were signs that she was still in the area. Sometimes it was her scent, a brief whiff caught in the breeze and then gone. At these times he would force himself into complete calmness and focus, gathering all his senses, and instincts that had never failed him before. Still she remained out of his reach.

He refused to give up.

It was long after dark and he had taken to standing quietly in a deep shadow cast by a building. He had stood unmoving for so long that the people-shy alley cats had taken him for architecture. Rodents scurried over his steel toed boots unafraid.

He was tired from too many nights gone with too little sleep. From the over work that his job demanded and from his obsessive thoughts of capturing the Cetra. He had just decided to give up for the night, it was late and the only people about were the prostitutes and the junkies. The flower girl would be someplace safe right now, he reasoned, tucked up in bed fast asleep. And he had an early morning meeting and a mountain of paperwork that he had allowed to pile up. And of course Hojo, demanding his presence for a psyche evaluation, an evaluation he wasn't very confident that he would pass in the state he was in.

Sighing, he pushed off from the wall when a sweet voice stopped him cold.

"Lovely night, isn't it?"

Blinking he looked down at his side and there she was, wearing a pink dress and a pink bow in her hair, her green eyes dark in the dim lighting.

"Cetra. I have been looking for you."

"I know.. did you want another flower, hmm?" She smiled up at him.

"No." He said dryly. "I want you to come with me."

"Where to?"

"Shinra." He growled feeling all out of patience. "Where do you think?"

"Oh that again." She said. "No thank you. I prefer to remain here."

He laughed at her innocence. "I wasn't offering you a choice."

She shrugged at his words. "Now if you wanted something to drink, I could help you there. I know of a quiet little tea shop, she said stepping away from the wall and started to walk past him.

"No you don't. Come back here." He said grabbing her by the arm and spinning her around to face him,

-and the instant he looked into her eyes he was plunged into a nightmare.

Sephiroth was transported into a place made up of ever deepening irridecent shades of green. He floated in it. It surrounded him. He knew without knowing how that he was in the Lifestream. He felt the continuity of time and space all around him and he was alone in it. He was an infinitely tiny speck of matter, growing smaller and smaller as the space around him increased until he was swallowed up in it and was lost.

It was so cold that it took his breath away. He didn't dare breathe. Breathing would bring that cold within him and then his insides would freeze. His heart would shatter.

His lungs were bursting for air - he gasped- and the pain became everything he knew, increasing every second until he was sure he would go mad with it. He wished for death, begged for it and knew that it would never come. Never ever...

Sephiroth found himself on his knees his hands grasping his head, choking on air that was suddenly there. He breathed rapidly and deeply, the pain was gone and he was back in the alley. He was kneeing in a puddle of filthy water that soaked through the material of his pants. He looked around him, expecting to be alone and found himself staring up into the concerned eyes of the flower girl.

"Are you OK?" She asked, kneeling down beside him. "I am so sorry, Sephiroth. I didn't know that was going to happen."

He was utterly unnerved and unable to stop her as her hands brushed his hair from his face.

"I never wanted to hurt you." She said.

"Huh, you hurt me? Don't make me laugh." He gasped shaking from the torment that he'd just lived through. It had been so cold...he'd been so alone.

It had felt so real.

"...but you have been hurt." She said stroking at his face, brushing his hair from his eyes and he found himself leaning into her touch. Her eyes were so kind. They reached into his soul and comforted him.

"...hurt for so long that you don't know how to feel good." She murmured, her voice low and soothing, just for him.

He made to pull away, but her hands restrained him, pulled his face into the crook of her neck. He breathed in her scent, magnified and made intimate with her body heat. He had never been so physically close to another person. He felt powerless as she stroked his hair, crooning into his ear. Her breath warm on his skin.

"You don't have to be alone anymore." She whispered and he began to tremble uncontrollably. She was like a lifeline that he had never known he'd needed. A place of safety and warmth and he never wanted to let her go.

-but, yet at the same time it was terrifying. Her words, her actions, everything about her was making him feel like he was losing control. Was making him feel weak and vulnerable.

"Don't touch me." He forced himself to say, pushing away from her suddenly and getting to his feet.

"Your crazy." He gasped, wincing at how his voice sounded so shaky and weak. "I am Sephiroth. I am General of SOLDIER, the second most powerful member of Shinra, of the Planet. No one can defeat _ME_."

"I don't deny that." She said sadly, also rising. "You have it in you to bring the Planet to her knees. But in some ways you aren't strong at all."

At his glowering, angry expression, she rushed to smooth over her words. She hadn't meant to be harsh, only truthful. " Your only human Sephiroth and humans are vulnerable, if you deny yourself that you will become brittle and you will break."

She reached out a hand to him and he backed away. "Or are you already broken?"

"Stay back." He warned, shuddering at her words. It was like he was seeing her for the first time. She wasn't a weak little girl. In her own unexpected way she was stronger than any SOLDIER. And though she dripped with sunshine and innocence she was the fiercest opponent he had ever encountered and he had gravely underestimated her.

She had... gotten into his mind, somehow... and influenced his feelings. Made him feel things that he had no right to feel. Longings that he had long ago killed and buried and he didn't want any of them resurrected.

He was better off being alone. Safer.

"Sephiroth. Let me help you."

"No. Just don't." He said, taking a step back. He took a deep, shaky breathe to steady his shattered nerves. He couldn't even begin to figure out what had just happened. She stood motionless before him with that kind, forgiving look in her eyes that somehow ripped him apart and left him feeling lost.

"I've changed my mind." He said making a show of straightening his coat, tossing his hair over his shoulder. He stood tall, his back straight, his chin up and looked down on her. "Stay, go- do what ever you want, Cetra. I wont bother you again."

"Sephiroth." She started but he turned on his heel and walked away quickly, turning the corner before he broke into an all out run for his bike. Kicking it to life, its roar shattered the silence of the night and he raced back to headquarters. To the sacred solitude of his apartment.

He refused to let himself think.

He hadn't just run away from a girl.

She hadn't brought him to his knees.

None of it had happened.

None of it.


End file.
